Bad Faith Recognized as Grounds for Invalidation
The General Assembly of the Court of Appeals has held that a registered trademark may be invalidated on the grounds of bad faith (Case 2008/11-501E 2008/507, July 16 2008, only recently published). The case arose out of an action for the invalidation of the trademark RG 512 (and design) on the grounds that it was confusingly similar to the earlier mark RG 512 (and design). The earlier mark was not registered or used in Turkey, but was registered and used in other countries.… »
Hope for Microsoft: Opponent Which Led New Application for Unused Mark Found to Have Acted in Bad Faith
The Re-examination and Evaluation Board of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office has reversed a decision of the Trademarks Department in which the latter had rejected claims of bad faith against a new application fıled by the applicant to avoid the consequences of a possible partial revocation of its earlier trademark. Background In November 2014 Microsoft Corporation fıled a trademark application in Turkey through WIPO for the mark POWER BI, covering specific goods in… »
Consultation on Draft Medical Devices Regulation
Dicle Doğan and Fatma Sevde Tan, Gun + Partners On 4 October 2018, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency published the draft Regulation on Medical Devices (Turkish language), which was drafted in parallel with the EU Medical Device Regulation ((EU) 2017/745). The draft regulation is currently open to public consultation until 16 November 2018 and may be amended before final publication. One of the significant changes that the draft regulation will introduce for… »
Court Rules on Protection of Well-Known Trade Mark
In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal (the CoA) ruled that the well-known status of the GARANTİ mark for banking services would prevent registration of the KUTUP GARANTİ PLUS mark for different services. In June 2012, a Turkish company, with the word KUTUP as the main element of its commercial name, applied to register the mark KUTUP GARANTİ PLUS in Classes 35, 37 and 40. The opponent, a renowned company in the banking sector owning many GARANTİ trade marks in several… »
Leading Home Appliances Manufacturer Granted Preliminary Injunction Against Competitor
Co-published Last year, Turkey’s leading home appliance manufacturer filed two patent infringement actions, claiming the determination, prohibition and prevention of a patent infringement and seeking a preliminary injunction against an international company in the same sector for its coffee machine products. The infringement actions were based on two patents protecting different features and methods of a Turkish coffee machine – the first electronic coffee machine dedicated… »
Is Good, Fast, and Cheap Arbitration a Dream?
The business community’s original idea of arbitration was to solve commercial disputes smoother and faster than the conventional courts could. Back in those days, arbitration was, by definition, fast. However, this perception has changed. In the 2015 International Arbitration Survey, cost and lack of speed were considered as the worst characteristics of international arbitration. As a reaction to this growing appetite to run proceedings in a more efficient manner, arbitration… »
Iran Sanctions from a Neighbouring Country’s Perspective: the Turkish Standpoint
It was announced that the economic sanctions against Iran will be brought back to a large extent after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“Iran nuclear deal”) implemented by the United Nations Security Council (“UNSC”) Resolution numbered 2231 and adopted in 2015, with the declaration of U.S. President Donald Trump on May 8, 2018. Immediately after the Iran sanctions having made staggering effects on the world trade are back… »
Stay of Execution to Mandatory Arbitration
The provisions providing for “appropriate remuneration” to be mandatorily determined by arbitration contained in the Regulation on Employee Inventions, Inventions Made at Institutions of Higher Education and Public-Funded Projects have been widely discussed since the entry into force of the Regulation. However, the Council of State assessed the provisions on mandatory arbitration for employee inventions for the first time in a case filed for the stay of execution and… »
Health Industry Regulations in the New Presidential Government
As a result of the referendum, held on April 16, 2017, an amendment has been made on Constitution and transition has been made to Presidential Government System. The most fundamental feature of this system is; the transfer of all executive authorities to the President with the annulment of the office of Prime Ministry. The President has become both the head of state and the head of executive power. On the other hand, although TBMM is still the fundamental legislative body, it… »
FICPI Turkey – Roundtable Meeting on Inventive Steps for Patents
FICPI-Turkey arranged its fourth roundtable meeting regarding the rules for determining the closest state of the art document in the light of the Problem-Solution Approach used for the inventive step examination of a claim, and the definition of the objective technical problem solved by the claim. The issue of inventive step was reviewed based on the closest state of the art document and the effect of an examiner’s view with regard to inventive step based on the objective… »
Court of Appeals Recognises Evidential Value of Agreement Restricting Parties’ Rights to Trademark
In a decision dated 14 February 2018 (No E 2017/11-85 K. 2018/209, which became public in July 2018), the General Assembly of the Civil Court of Appeals held that an agreement between two parties restricting the use of a sign or trademark can later prevent the registration of that sign or mark. Background On 12 December 2004 Company A fıled an application for the registration of SULTANS OF THE DANCE, which was the name of a group performing Turkish modern folk dances formed… »
New Company Set to Boost IP Commercialisation
The Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (the Office) founded a company on April 2 2018 based in Ankara, called Türk Sınai Mülkiyet Değerleme Mühendislik ve Danışmanlık Hizmetleri Anonim Şirketi (TÜRKSMD). The company’s sole owner is currently the Office. TÜRKSMD will be able to pursue commercial purposes since it is founded as a corporation and is open to all nationalities, persons and institutions. The primary aim of TÜRKSMD is to value intellectual property rights belonging… »